• PTI lawmakers to stage a sit-in outside SC today, proceed to Adiala jail on Thursday if access to Imran denied
• Warns youth outpouring will be difficult to contain if they take to the streets
• Backs calls for new administrative units, but asks ‘who will make them’
ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said his party and the Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) alliance were on board with the call for a long march to Islamabad on September 27.
Separately, addressing a press conference on Monday, the chief minister announced that all PTI parliamentarians would stage a sit-in outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday (today) and, if Imran Khan’s family and personal physicians were not granted access to him, they would proceed to Adiala jail on Thursday.
Speaking to Geo News, CM Afridi said, “The PTI’s political leadership across the country and its ally, the TTAP, are all on board with the long march, and they collectively agreed on September 27 as the date for it.”
He also rejected the impression of a communication gap between the party’s leadership and workers.
The KP CM said institutions that were not granting political space to the PTI should understand that the party’s leadership had taken on a great burden by seeking to resolve issues through mutual understanding.
“However, not just in KP but across Pakistan, particularly the youth, no one will be able to contain them when they come out on Sept 27, because I can see passion and a ray of light in their eyes,” the chief minister said.
During the interview, the KP chief minister also criticised the federal government for its economic inefficiency and bad governance. He said that if he met the PTI founder at Adiala jail and was instructed to defer the Sept 27 date for the long march, he would comply.
CM Afridi added that he would also follow Imran’s instructions if asked to pave the way for talks.
“The PTI founder is in solitary confinement and denied his rights. No one is allowed to meet him — not me, his family, lawyers or personal physicians.”
After exhausting all constitutional and legal means, he said, the PTI had no other option but to protest.
On a proposal to create new provinces in Pakistan, CM Afridi said it was the PTI founder’s vision to establish new administrative units across the country.
“But the question is: who will create them? Only a government with a mandate can do so,” he said, adding, “We support the call for creating new administrative units, but only through a government brought to power by the people.”
Sit-in outside SC
Earlier, addressing a press conference at KP House in Islamabad, the chief minister expressed serious concerns over recent reports regarding the deteriorating health of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.
Mr Afridi announced that all PTI parliamentarians would stage a sit-in outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday (today) and, if access to Imran Khan by his family and personal physicians was not permitted, they would proceed to Adiala Jail on Thursday.
Mr Afridi reiterated his demand that Imran Khan’s family and personal physicians be granted immediate access to him. The chief minister said the former prime minister’s health had become a matter of grave concern and that the apprehensions prevailing among the public could only be addressed through a comprehensive medical examination and treatment, preferably at a leading hospital, in the presence of his family and under the supervision of his personal physicians.
Mr Afridi said he still had faith in the superior judiciary and called upon the Chief Justice of Pakistan to issue an immediate decision concerning Imran Khan’s health and ensure that his family and personal physicians were granted access to him.
“If access is still denied and the authorities persist with their intransigent position, every chowk across the country will be turned into a D-Chowk on Thursday. The planned march on Sept 27 remains on schedule, and the struggle will continue until then,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026
